The Forgotten Zodiac

"Be gone!" L'arc shouted, swinging his sword at the leader. "Keep away from the Viera, and the forest!" he declared.

"And why should I, pathetic boy?" The general pointed his sword at L'arc, grinning. "Come on then. Fight me. You won't last a second, child."

"...one," L'arc counted, stepping forward and engaging the general. "I'll defeat you, if it's the last thing I do!"

((xD))

"It's a shame...I have to slice you to ribbons just to teach you a lesson!" He snarled, slashing out furiously with a sideswipe. Ullar was still pinned, but he wailed.

"No, don't hurt my friend!" He cried, but he was currently having the pulp beaten out of him. He seemed to ignore it, though.

L'arc blocked the swipe, using his momentum to punch the human in the face. "Back!" he declared. Vines flew up from the ground, snagging the general's feet. L'arc swung his sword at the general's back, growling.

The general tore his feet from his boots, whipping around and hitting L'arc square in the side. Alas, he had attached with the flat of his blade; it did nothing but knock L'arc aside and create a very shallow scrape. It would definitely bruise, though. The general stalked forward, growling in fury. He stabbed downwards, aiming to pin L'arc's leg to the ground.

L'arc rolled out of the way of the blade, sending more vines to wrap around the general's legs. He climbed back to his feet, prepared to fight some more.

A few members of his unit were starting to trickle back, and before long, they had L'arc surrounded. The others were still fighting to keep Rush down, as he was putting up quite a fight for being pinned. Rhre had fled with the infant child, and Lora was already tied down and thrown next to her fallen husband. Ullar wasn't yelling anymore. Nor was he moving. The general was stuck by the vines this time, but he viciously attacked them to free himself before charging at L'arc.

 Without warning, he side-stepped and swung at L'arc's back.

L'arc shouted in pain as the blade met his back and he was knocked forward, his vision going white. He grit his teeth, though, and pulled himself back up.

He was very, very glad that his father had taught him the value of chainmail.

"Is that all?" L'arc said, trying to cover the break in his voice when he realized that he was the only one still fighting.

"You really should just give it up, child...unfortunately for you, I've realized who you are...take him as ransom! The king will pay a hefty price for his imprisonment." The general snapped, and several guards jumped forward at once. Not one of them touched L'arc, however; a large, pink, scaled hand reached down and scooped him up before they could.

Reetah blew searing fire over the lot. "Careful, don't hit the trees!" Verolen slid down off of Reetah's back, ripping the blindfold off and taking a good look at what was going on. He immediately went to free Rush, without a second thought.

L'arc breathed a sigh of relief as he was lifted, letting it out through clenched teeth. He shook his head as if to clear it, then looked up at Reetah. "Thanks," he said, just loud enough for her to hear over the wind.

"Don't mention it," Reetah swiped at the two around her son with her free claws, picking up Ullar and lifting into the air in order to protect both him and L'arc while the fighting continued anew. The humans were quickly dispersing, though; with the appearance of Reetah, the humans were aware of their slim survival chances. Many of them had taken to running for it, including the general. Rush was easy enough to free, thanks to that.

"Is everyone okay?" Verolen quickly questioned, looking at the collapsed and burning fabric of the tent. "No one was in that...right?"

"Everyone got out," L'arc confirmed. "I don't know... where the rest of the Viera went to, though... uhm..." he looked around, then shook his head. "Thanks for coming."

"No problem," Verolen shrugged as Reetah landed again. "Viera, you said? Interesting..." He peered up into a tree, then grinned. "There you are. Viera commonly distract their attacker and flee into the trees."

"And how do you know that?" Rhre hissed.

"I knew a Viera once. She told me lots. She wasn't the type to hide, though...come on down, there's no need to hide any longer." Verolen shrugged, walking back to Reetah. He paused, though, and untied Lora before climbing into Reetah's hand with L'arc. "You okay? I promised Sylas I'd get you back alive. No poison or anything, right?"

Rhre, after placing the baby in Lora's trembling arms, focused on getting the covering of the tent off, in order to save what supplies she could. Reetah leaned her head forward and doused the flames with her saliva. The tent was a mess, but it looked repairable, for the most part.

"I'm fine," L'arc said. He then thought about it and glanced over his shoulder, wincing slightly as his aching back told him not to move so quickly. "I think it's just a bruise. Thank goodness for armor," he said. He sighed, then snickered slightly. "And Bermuda thought I was crazy for wearing it all the time."

Reetah shook her head. "People called me paranoid for the same reasons. But I had my cause." She sighed.

Verolen peered over Reetah's claws, at the hand Ullar was in. She had her fingers curled around him like a cage, but he wasn't moving. He looked half-dead, and was bleeding profusely. The demon prince sighed, then looked over at Rush and Byrne. "I didn't expect to see them here..." He motioned to the chimera to come closer. "Rush, where did you--" Verolen stopped himself, realizing that Rush was deafened. "Nevermind. Here," He touched the chain between Rush and Byrne, and it broke at once and turned into nothing but a pole. Rush lifted Byrne up and deposited him with Verolen and L'arc, then stared at the two of them.

"Burukai." He gurgled, and Verolen realized that he was injured pretty badly.

"What a mess..." Verolen sighed.

"You're telling me," L'arc said, shaking his head. He made a motion for Rush to come over, then tried to tell the chimera through a strange mix of charades and sigh language that they were going to fly back to the manakete palace and that the chimera should come with him.

Rush stared at him, then crawled into Reetah's hand. He sniffed L'arc, then hugged Verolen, his tail flicking about like a dog's. "Is anything else required of us?" Reetah questioned, looking at Rhre.

"No. We'll be fine. We have one to bury, though...no matter. You should go. Trouble follows you lot around everywhere. I can only pray we don't get caught in the crossfire again."

"I pray the same," Reetah took off, her wings pounding heavily.

"...My eye spies a dragon on the horizon."

Kendra stood up from where she had been staring out the window, gently stepping aside as Israel darted over to look.

"Verolen's coming back!" he said happily, throwing open the window and jumping out, flapping his wings quickly to go and meet the others in their return.

"What did I say?" Verolen grinned as Israel flew in pace with Reetah. "I got L'arc back!"

Reetah landed easily and deposited her right hand into the room. Verolen and L'arc climbed off, L'arc leading Rush and Verolen carrying Byrne. Reetah was left to transform and carry Ullar. She looked more upset now than she had since yesterday.

There was no cry of 'L'arc!' from Sylas' bed. The human was fast asleep.